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A Kinder, Gentler IRS; Power Outage Impacts Atlanta Courthouse; Indian Ocean a Hotbed for Pirates; Social Security, Defense, Medicare Top Federal Spending; Chicago Hospitals Dealing with TB Scare; Japanese Immigration Law Splits Girl from Parents; Obama Will Provide Progress Report on Economy; Administration Lifts Some Cuba Restrictions
Aired April 13, 2009 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thanks so much.
Happy tax freedom day. Now, about those many happy returns. We're pushing forward to the filing deadline now just two days away. The IRS vows to work with, not against, taxpayers in trouble.
The U.S. Navy wins the battle, but what about the war? We're pushing forward on a Hollywood ending to a high seas drama off Somalia. The pirates vow to strike back.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's the best way I know of to push forward on taxes. From now till the end of the year, what you earn you keep. And I don't mean you won't keep paying. I mean that this is tax freedom day, when the average American has earned enough to pay his or her yearly debt to the IRS. It's the earliest freedom day since 1967, and it helps us kick off three special days of coverage: "Your Taxes: The Real Deal."
Leading up to tax filing day on Wednesday, we're going to show you what you're really paying, what you're getting for your money, and how it varies depending on where you live.
This hour, the IRS commissioner says, with hardship all around, filers who owe will find agents who care. And that's where we start this hour, with tax bills that just don't go away, even when jobs or homes do.
Gerri Willis joins me with everything you need to know to keep the IRS on your side this week and all year long.
I don't know. That's tough, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, listen, it's different this year. You know, as you mentioned IRS Commissioner Doug Schulman is talking to the National Press Club about how the IRS is handling tax collections amid the economic turmoil. And essentially, the IRS is becoming nicer and friendlier to taxpayers this filing season.
Here's what it means to you. No. 1, they are going to postpone -- postpone -- some collections, believe it or not. Yes, that is going to happen because of the economy.
They may allow you to skip payments or reduce payments for a period of time.
And finally, back taxes will take a backseat to refinancing. If you have been hit hard by this mortgage meltdown, you may get some help here. There will be -- the lien for back taxes may be removed or put in abeyance for a while so you can actually get yourself back on your feet.
Now, if you can't afford your taxes, you still have to file. Late filing, not filing, that's going to increase your tax bill by 25 percent or more once you add in all those penalties and fees -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So how can people help -- how can people, then, get help from the IRS?
WILLIS: Pick up the telephone. You have to pick up the phone, call an IRS agent, and do not be afraid: 800-tax-1040. Isn't that a great phone number: 800-tax-1040?
You can also go to the Web site. It's IRS.gov. The site has a section titled "what if" that outlines what kind of help you can get from the IRS if you're struggling to make your payments or you just lost your job.
Kyra, I know a lot of people out there are thinking, how can this possibly be true? But it is different this year. It has all -- everything to do with the economy. They are going to work with folks differently this year.
So you can't get help if you don't ask for it. Pick up the telephone.
PHILLIPS: All right. Gerri, thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: And a lot more of "The Real Deal" is ahead. We're going to follow the dollars, your dollars after they arrive in the treasury. It's a wild ride.
Want to pay less state taxes? Willing to move? We're going to see which states tax least and which states tax the most.
Another milepost on GM's road to rescue: a surgical bankruptcy may be taking shape. "The New York Times" says the White House has ordered the carmaker to prepare for a filing June 1, which is GM's deadline to reach cost-cutting deals with union workers and bond holders. The so-called surgical plan would isolate GM's healthy businesses into a new company and unload the rest.
GM already has taken $13.4 billion in emergency government loans.
Now, a presidential update on the stimulus. President Obama just marked the 2,000th infrastructure project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He says the stimulus is not only working; it's working better, faster and cheaper than expected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, because these projects are getting approved more quickly than we thought, thanks to, in large part, the outstanding work of the tiger team and folks here at the Department of Transportation. And because these projects are costing less than we thought, we can utter a sentence rarely heard in recent years. This government effort is coming in ahead of schedule and under budget.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, that 2,000th project, by the way, is an overpass in Michigan.
Let's go ahead and check the Big Board now. Dow Industrials, it looks like, down 83 points. We'll continue to monitor those numbers for you.
Well, could the promised retaliations be under way in Somalia? Attackers fired mortar rounds as a U.S. congressman's plane took off today from the airport of Mogadishu. Representative Donald Payne's plane got away without anyone getting hurt, but police at the airport told Payne's staff that the plane was damaged. It's not clear how damaged.
There are pictures of Payne before he left for the airport. He was actually meeting with Somalia's prime minister and president to talk about piracy and security.
Payne, a Democrat from New Jersey, chairs a House subcommittee on Africa. He also spent time with leaders from the African Union.
And here's what we know right now about Captain Phillips. Last we heard, he was resting on the USS Boxer and doing well. He's talked to both his wife and members of his crew. Mrs. Phillips will make a statement today at 4 p.m. Eastern.
The one pirate that's in custody? Well, federal prosecutors are still deciding whether to try him in the U.S.
The Maersk Alabama's first officer says that the whole episode should be a wake-up call to the dangers of piracy. And he's urging America to lead the fight.
And just a short time ago, President Obama talked about how the U.S. would be dealing with the piracy threat. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We are resolved to halt the rise of privacy (sic) in that region. And to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks. We have to continue to be prepared to confront them when they arise, and we have to ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the Maersk Alabama saga is over, but those three Navy SEALs' sniper shots may have changed the rules for hijackings along the Somali coast. Pirates have threatened to retaliate. And you have to figure that they'll rethink their strategies and methods after what happened yesterday.
We're going to push this story forward in just a few minutes with CNN's David McKenzie in neighboring Kenya.
Now, a sea change in U.S. policy towards Cuba. President Obama is set to loosen decades-old restrictions on travel and remittances, but only for Cuban-Americans. This comes day before the president travels to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. We expect to hear a former announcement and a lot more details later today.
Well, crazy weather, to say the least, is creating some dangerous, even deadly situations across the southeast today. Severe weather expert, meteorologist Chad Myers tracking it all for us.
Hey, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And Kyra, one situation today that has literally nothing to do with the line of weather that is this big red zone that you're seeing here, all the way from Albany back even down into the Florida Panhandle, this is the zone where the severe weather is taking place. Also the zone where the tornadoes are taking place.
These red boxes are tornado watch boxes. They've been with the area all day long. And a couple of the storms -- that's one, two, three, four -- those are all spinning. And a couple of them even have tornado warnings on them at this hour.
And this is the area that we're going to be most concerned about. These little storms that are out all by themselves. They're called super cells. The reason why they're significant is because they get to eat all of the humidity that's around them. They get to go and they get to be the spinning storm. Rather than when you get a bunch of storms all lined up, they can make wind. But lined up storms don't make tornadoes. They only make wind events and maybe some hail.
But the big tornado is possible across southern Georgia, as well, today, all the way -- and severe weather from Tennessee back down into northern Florida.
Let's go to some pictures that we have out of the Suwannee River. You may want to sing along with me, if you like. They're not singing down here. This is down the Suwannee. In Florida, 63 feet. The flood stage well below that. This water almost all the way up to the bottoms of the bridges now.
And the Suwannee River does dump into the Gulf of Mexico, so areas downriver from this area. Now, you can go across I-75. You will see the Suwannee River down there. It is still swollen, and now that water is going into the Gulf of Mexico today. And that's going to be at least helping the water going down a little bit.
A wind event here in Atlanta, about 50 miles per hour. The problem is the city got in the way. We'll tell you about that in the next half hour, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Oh, and I'll tell you how it's affecting even our co- workers right now, Chad. Thanks so much.
As you've heard Chad, the storms are being blamed for at least one death here in Atlanta. That victim killed by a falling tree. We just found out about that about 40 minutes ago.
But those strong winds that Chad was talking about, it's knocked out power all across the state. DeKalb County Courthouse just outside of Atlanta lost power. And that's where CNN producer Sonya Houston joins us now by the phone. She was actually there for jury duty.
Sonya, tell me what happened. I guess it was 9:00, what, when the power went out?
SONYA HOUSTON, CNN PRODUCER: About 9:45, Kyra. You know, we had to report here at 8:15 and were told to be here. So they've called some names and the lights started flickering, and then they went off completely. So everything's sort of -- the wheels of justice sort of ground to a halt at that point.
PHILLIPS: So there's also criminal cases, though, that are being dealt with there in that courthouse, right? So was there a security concern? Because if the power goes out, there goes all your security assets? And what do you do about those that are in the courtroom?
HOUSTON: That's correct. We were made aware of that just as jurors. Yes, I talked with Kathy McCumber (ph), who's the superior court administrator. And she tells me, typically, when the power goes out, as you know, these courtrooms don't have windows. So it would be completely dark.
So what the judges were doing that had criminal cases, is they were just telling -- calling the jail and clearing out their schedule and saying, "Don't bring the criminals over." You know, there are people that are going to be on trial for criminal cases. Until we get the power back on, just because of the security concern and just for the people coming in and out.
Like us jurors, we could go out and get some air because obviously the air is not working. When we came back in, instead of walking through like the security detector like you have at an airport, they would just simply hand wand you and hand inspect your bag.
They put your bags typically on a conveyor belt like they do in airports, but here they were not able to do that, obviously, because the backup generators did not operate those things. So, people were moving in and out slowly. But as of just about seven or eight minutes ago, the power has come on, and they are now calling names and seating jurors for court -- for cases.
PHILLIPS: Well, of course, we want you to come back to work. We're going to find out if you get selected or not.
HOUSTON: Well, I was kind of half listening. My name was not brought up on the list of people they just let go home. But we'll see what happens...
PHILLIPS: OK.
HOUSTON: ... and see if I get picked for a trial. But right now, the lights are back on, and everything is going smoothly.
PHILLIPS: Great. Thanks for reporting for us, Sonya. Appreciate it.
HOUSTON: No worries. Take care.
PHILLIPS: Well, his wife found a way to really get his resume out there. Listen to this. Now job hunter James Mallett joins us for a 30-second pitch. Anybody out there need a sales manager?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, they fought together, and they died together: Five American Army soldiers killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq. Their remains, in flag-draped coffins, arrived at Dover Air Force Base yesterday.
As part of our "Fallen Heroes" segment, we want to tell you a little something about these men.
Twenty-four-year-old Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods was from Shepherdsville, Kentucky. His dad says he went by his middle name, Lee. He loved music and was a member of his high school football team. His dad says Lee was a born leader and was on his third tour in Iraq.
Then there's 20-year-old Corporal Jason Pautsch. He was so eager to join the Army he graduated from high school in Davenport, Iowa, a semester early, even passing up his prom. His dad says Jason often felt soldiers weren't appreciated for their sacrifices.
Twenty-five-year-old Sergeant Edward Forrest Jr. grew up in Fenton, Missouri. He was married and had two sons. His sister says that she asked him not to re-enlist, and he told her he owed it to his brothers in his unit.
The other two soldiers killed in the attack were 22-year-old Private Second Class Bryce Gautier of Cypress, California, and 32- year-old Staff Sergeant Bryan Hall of Elk Grove, California.
We remember our "Fallen Heroes" today. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We're just getting word that the president of the United States apparently is going to make a major speech on the economy at George Washington -- or Georgetown University, rather, tomorrow, we're told, at 11:30 a.m.
Apparently, he's going to lay out the steps to how he plans and his task force plans to combat the economic crisis, giving specifics on how he plans to get all of us out of this recession at this time.
So we're just getting word the president of the United States making a major speech on the economy, Georgetown University, 11:30 Eastern Time tomorrow. We'll take it live.
And there's Captain Richard Phillips, safe, sound and smiling on board the USS Boxer, now that Navy SEALs brought his ordeal to a sudden and decisive end. Other pirates are threatening retaliation.
The head of naval force's Central Command says the successful end of this drama could definitely trigger more violence off the coast of Somalia. And that area of the Indian Ocean, off Somalia's coast, is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, yet pirates act at will. Our Josh Levs explains why it's so hard to patrol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A big part of the challenge to fighting piracy in this region is how big and expansive the waters are off Somalia's east coast. Let me show you how big that area is.
Here's Somalia along here. Now, it's in this area east of the country that this incident took place, and there have been a lot of piracy incidents in here. Military officials say it's very difficult to patrol this whole area, because it's so big.
It's a little bit different up here. This is the Gulf of Aden, and it's more compressed. They say they've had a little bit more success fighting pirates in this area.
But over here it's so difficult to get a ship to another ship that's in trouble. In fact, we have some geography to show you. We're going to zoom over to the United States. I'm going to show you what a military official said. Helps you understand this.
Take a look here. Draw a box from Houston over to Chicago, then over to New York, then all the way down to Jacksonville and back over here. This entire area is what we're talking about when we're looking at that east coast of Somalia. It's a huge region. You can imagine how difficult it would be to patrol this entire area. Factor that size into the water. That is the challenge that we're talking about.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh.
A shipping company CEO who played the game with Somali pirates tells us something in your house has been shipped through pirate territory. Next hour, we're going to push forward this question: how is piracy going to affect your wallet? Detouring the trouble spot or arming the crews won't be cheap. And someone will have to foot the bill, mostly you and me.
Well, take nine credit cards, add a shop-till-you-drop attitude, and what do you get? Well, a whopping bill. We're going to introduce to you a couple who found themselves in a huge mess and how they dug out of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GRAPHIC: History of the IRS: The roots go back to the Civil War in 1862, when President Lincoln and Congress created the position of commissioner of Internal Revenue Services and collected income tax to pay war expenses.
PHILLIPS: Well, with so many people out of work and fighting for jobs, you've really got to think of different ways to market yourself. We've seen resumes on billboards, T-shirt and now windshields.
James Mallett joins us from Charlotte, North Carolina, to tell us more about his job hunting efforts.
Pretty creative, James. We're also going to get you to do a 30- second pitch, as well. Now, this was actually your wife's idea. Is that right?
JAMES MALLETT, JOB SEEKER: Yes, actually we had been doing the traditional methods of trying to seek out a job -- you know, sales ladder, job fairs, sending letters directly to CEOs -- without much luck. And we started to get a little frustrated at not getting any call-backs.
So my wife said that she wanted to do this. And we're married almost 17 years. When she wife wants something, she pretty much gets it.
PHILLIPS: Well, it sounds like she had a pretty good idea. Tell me how many resumes you guys put on people's windshields. And did anyone call you?
MALLETT: Yes. We actually put out -- we've only started doing this last Wednesday. And it's been -- actually taken on a bit of a life of its own. We put about 500 resumes and a cover letter explaining what I can do.
And I got three call backs by the end of Friday evening. I had three calls from companies. I actually have one interview set up from that. And actually got a very nice e-mail from a gentleman who was a business owner locally, giving me some advice on what I should do, steps I should take, I felt was very nice.
PHILLIPS: Wow. OK, so you're supporting four kids. Is that right?
MALLETT: Yes. Four kids from sixth grade through preschool. And you know, obviously, my wife is -- my wife is going back to school to be a social worker at UNC.
So it's a little tough right now, especially with the insurance, the COBRA, very expensive. Unable to take advantage of the COBRA right now, because it's just too expensive. And my actually son ended up going to the E.R. last week for eight stitches. So it's been a treat.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, I have to say, we've admired your creative efforts. That's why we want you to be our 30-second pitch guy today if you don't mind. So I'm going to get Otis to start the clock. Are you ready, James?
MALLETT: I'm always ready.
PHILLIPS: All right. Here we got. Let's start it. Go for it.
MALLETT: OK. I'm a seasoned front-line manager with more than 12 years Fortune 300 training and sales-to-sales management. I have proven credentials of being at or above quota in corporate goals.
I've taken several dysfunctional teens and generated them into successful units and lead by example. And have the ability to take on a role as a manager or as a sales professional and deliver results today.
I believe the experience that I have, a company that's forward thinking would be able to take advantage of the skills that I have today.
PHILLIPS: Fabulous, jmallett@carolina.rr.com. Good luck, James. Let us know what happened.
MALLETT: Thanks a lot for having me.
PHILLIPS: It's all right.
Well, holy moley, what a glitch on Good Friday. Some cable customers in the Philly area looked twice, then looked away when a Vatican Mass that they were watching suddenly switched to a "Girls Gone Wild" ad.
It was a test of the emergency broadcast system that interrupted Pope Benedict and put the girls on air. Well, the ad was on the preselected channel that provides information in the event of an emergency.
Last we heard, only one person had called to Comcast to complain.
Well, I can't tell if this next story stinks or not. An inventor says that his chocolate inhaler, Le Whiff, gives you all the taste and none of the calories of the real thing. Apparently, Le Whiff is being touted as "le answer" to curbing your appetite.
It involved out of -- or it evolved, rather, out of a culinary art experiment and reportedly goes on sale in the U.S. next month. Tell us if it works.
Tax day is enough to drive some of us to drink, but you may not want to buy your hard liquor in Oregon. We're going to survey the state of taxation from coast to coast.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Three shots, you're out. Now that Navy SEALs have ended Captain Richard Phillips's hostage drama and upset the Somali pirates' business model, other pirates are threatening retaliation. One says U.S. forces are the number one enemy now. And others have promised retaliation, including killing hostages on hijacked ships if their countries attack.
And keep in mind: pirates are still holding other crews hostage. One example: a Filipino crew held since November 10. Their families fear the captors might take revenge on their loved ones.
CNN's David McKenzie takes a look at why piracy has gotten so out of hand and what can we done about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAPTAIN RICHARD PHILLIPS, MAERSK ALABAMA: Thanks, guys. Thank you very much.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The grateful Captain Richard Phillips, hero of the moment, safely aboard the USS Boxer after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates.
ADMIRAL RICK GURNON, PRESIDENT, MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY: It doesn't get better than this. It doesn't get better than this. This is exactly the way we wanted it to end: with the crew safe, with the cargo safe and with the ship safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm doing well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great.
MCKENZIE: In Mombasa, Kenya, the crew of the Maersk Alabama, relieved and emotional, about the rescue of their captain, a man they call their hero.
SHANE MURPHY, CHIEF MATE, MAERSK ALABAMA: We fought to save the captain shipmates that were still aboard. But we never gave up. MCKENZIE: But in his first formal words to the press, the man that took over the helm of the Alabama offering a sober assessment of the waters off Somalia.
MURPHY: We'd like to implore President Obama to use all his resources and increase the commitment to ending this Somali pirate scourge. Right now, there are ships still being taken right now as we're standing here.
MCKENZIE: Over 200 of their fellow sailors still held hostage, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
This was a victory for the U.S. Navy, but it is a rare one. To understand why Somali pirates are so successful, you need to understand Somalia.
Piracy is born out of war. Decades of anarchy in Somalia have led to the total breakdown of the nation. The government is in place, but it's ineffective, and its limited reach doesn't extend to the sea.
For years, pirates have used this vacuum to seize ships. At first, they said it was to stop illegal fishing, the excuse for capturing this Korean fishing vessel. But they soon found out that, with guns and small boats, they could make a lot of cash: over $100 million last year alone, according to Kenyan officials.
So in what were once quiet fishing villages, like Eyl, the pirates have cars. The kids have mobile phones. Piracy is perhaps Somalia's most successful enterprise.
ADM. RICK GURNON, PRES., MASSACHUSETTS MARITIME ACADEMY: The pirates have a great business model that works for them: Seize ships, get ransom, make millions. As an international community, we have got to stop that.
MCKENZIE: Over a dozen nations have been trying to do just that, patrolling the dangerous waters off Somalia to try to stop the marauding pirates. Until now they've focused on deterrents. But with the U.S. and French navies taking a more aggressive approach, Somali pirates say they will fight fire with fire. One of them told CNN, from now on, they'd kill American and French sailors taken hostage.
David McKenzie, CNN, Mombasa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, your taxes, "The Real Deal." From now through April 15th, CNN is your guide to a yearly ordeal that's even more taxing in a deep recession. We're going to show you what you're really paying. And trust me, you'll be surprised at what you're getting for your money.
And if you own government bonds, one of the biggest federal budget items is money in your pocket. Interest on the national debt is just one of the interesting ways the Treasury spends your tax dollars. CNN's Christine Romans explains for us now. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The price of admission to the most dynamic economy in the world is your federal income tax. And among other things, the money withheld each week from your paycheck paves roads, provides health care to children, buys tanks and fighter jets and pays the interest on America's mounting debt.
It comes out of every paycheck, and you have until Wednesday to settle up the bill with the government. You might get a refund, or you may owe more.
LEN BURMAN, DIRECTOR, TAX POLICY CENTER: Generally, you end up paying more if you have additional income. Like, for example, you get some consulting fees or something like that, or you take on a second job, you earn more money. Or you get a big raise.
ROMANS: So, we thought you'd like to know exactly how your hard- earned money is being spent and where. The largest portion goes to fund Social Security. After that comes defense programs, followed by Medicare.
The remaining money supports programs such as food stamps, retirement and disability. But some of that money goes toward something you'll never see. About eight percent is paying the interest on the country's mounting national debt, which totals more than $11 trillion. The 2012 projections puts it closer to 16 trillion.
BURMAN: We'll have more spending on interest than we spend on discretionary programs other than defense. It's a lot of money. Over time, the federal interest cost is going to get to be a serious problem, and it really worries tax and budget experts of both parties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we don't just say -- pay Uncle Sam, of course. Every state taxes something. And depending on where you live and what you buy, well, it can really add up.
Check out this cool map that we found on msn.com. Where does your state rank on taxes? It's divided by gas, cigarettes, beer and sales. So, for example, here, gas, New York has the greatest total tax, state tax on gasoline, 41.3 cents per gallon. The lowest? Alaska, 8-cent tax. And that actually has been suspended through August of 2009.
Now, for all you smokers, here you go. New York now beats New Jersey, $2.75. It's the heftiest state tax on cigarettes. So, if you're a smoker, guess what? You want to move to South Carolina. Among the 21 states that grow tobacco, it collects 7 cents.
Beer? I know a lot of people are going to be paying attention to this. Look at this. Boom, boom, Alabama, Georgia and Alaska, the highest -- $1.07 in Alaska. So, if you want to drink beer, guess where the cheapest is? Wyoming. That's your best bet. Oh, and Missouri, too.
You can actually get it by colors. Look at this. If you go to the lighter colors, now, hey, Scott, I've got all the cheapest places if you want to drink beer, there you go. There's Wyoming there.
Yes, I was doing this for my director because he doesn't want to go to Wyoming, folks. So, there you go. Wyoming is 2 cents. But if you click on all the really light colored states, you can see how inexpensive it is. So, there you go, the cheapest place to drink beer.
Anyway, it's pretty interesting. Gas, cigarettes, beer and sales, where does your state rank on taxes? You just go to msn.com.
All right, you got an income tax refund coming? Congratulations. If you're like most Americans, well, you probably know how you're going to plan to spend it, right? An Associated Press poll finds 54 percent of refund recipients are paying bills or debts, not splurging. Only 5 percent plan to do that.
And this year's average federal refund is $2,700, up from $2,500 last year. Well, we want to know your plan, spend, save or pay bills. If you want to share, e-mail us at CNNnewsroom@CNN.com. You can also weigh in at iReport.com.
And another very troubling recession trend. Listen to this, college kids using credit cards more than ever and racking up huge debt. A study by Sallie Mae found that 92 percent charged tuition and other education expenses like books and other supplies last year. That's up 85 percent from 2004.
Students using credit cards estimated charging $2,200 for direct education expenses and more than double the average in 2004. A Sallie Mae official says that as a result, too many students may be overpaying for college because they're bypassing less expensive financial aid.
And Sherrie Muldoon is the last of the big-time spenders. Why say last? Because she'd be the first to admit that she learned a lesson after she and her husband racked up more than $46,000 in credit card debt. But she can smile about it now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRIE MULDOON, OUT OF DEBT: Every dime. I mean, absolutely every dime went towards paying that debt off. And when we mailed that last certified check, it's a great weight-loss program. I was 100 pounds lighter. We're glad it's over. But we're never going to forget it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the average American has a credit card debt of $10,700. And coming up, we're going to talk with Sherrie Muldoon on how she got up so high on her bill and how she brought it down. Well, a big challenge for Chicago-area hospitals evaluating hundreds of patients, babies and health care workers after a doctor in training exposes them to TB.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: President Obama kicking off the annual White House Easter egg roll. This year's theme? Let's Go Play! Meant to encourage kids to be active. The Obamas hosting 30,000 people, about 10,000 more than usually get to attend. Twenty-five tickets went to military families. Four thousand local students were invited. And an unknown number of tickets set aside this year for families headed by same-sex parents. All kids under 10 take home a special White House wooden egg as a souvenir.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Three Chicago-area hospitals are scrambling to deal with a tuberculosis scare. This happened after a TB-infected first- year medical resident unknowingly exposed hundreds of health care workers, patients and newborns before she was diagnosed. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to tell us exactly how it all happened? What do you know?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is that this woman, a pediatric resident, so, a doctor but in her first year of training, she was training to be a pediatrician. She worked in three different hospitals. And Tuesday last week, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She was in the hospital for a couple days, and now she is at home.
Now, the good news is, they've tested hundreds of people who she had contact with at these three local hospitals in Chicago. All of them tested negative. Nobody had tuberculosis.
Another piece of good news is that she has the type of tuberculosis that's pretty easy to treat with antibiotics. She doesn't have the drug-resistant kind. So, that's a good thing. This kind of tuberculosis, pretty easy to treat.
PHILLIPS: So, how is TB spread?
COHEN: TB is spread -- if I had TB right now, Kyra, I could give it to you. The droplets go out into the air. And they can hang out there for hours. We actually have a little illustration to show people how it works. Those droplets can hang out in the air.
And usually when people give TB to one another, it is over -- they have prolonged contact. In other words, it's not just Kyra and I sitting next to each other for a couple of minutes. It's usually people who live in the same household or who have very close contact. So, here you can see, those droplets can just go back and forth from person to person and then are breathed down into the lungs.
Now, this is interesting. They tested at least ten immediate family members of this young woman. And they've gotten most of those results back. None of them had TB. So, TB is kind of -- it's an interesting animal, so to speak. You can live in the same house as someone with TB and yet not get it.
PHILLIPS: What are the symptoms?
COHEN: Here are some of the symptoms. I'm going to read them out just, if anybody's wondering, well, gosh, I think I was at that hospital in Chicago between November and April. Coughing that lasts more than three weeks, coughing up blood and pain when breathing or coughing. This woman, the doctor, she felt some of these symptoms herself. That's why she got herself checked out.
PHILLIPS: All right, now, the TB scare a couple of years ago, a few years ago I guess it was now. What's the status of that?
COHEN: Right. It got us thinking about Andrew Speaker. That was the gentleman...
PHILLIPS: Yes, he was the local attorney here.
COHEN: Right, the local attorney here in Atlanta. He got on several airplanes. And airplanes can be very bad news because you're stuck in this confined area for hours and hours. And so, that was his case.
He had tuberculosis, he was in several airplanes, and you know what? It appears he didn't get anyone sick. They tested people who were sitting next to him and near him who were considered high risk. And they didn't get tuberculosis from him. So. tuberculosis may not be quite as infectious as some people think.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, we'll follow up on the story for sure.
COHEN: That's right.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Elizabeth.
Well, it's an immigration case that's causing global outrage. A Japanese schoolgirl forced to choose between her family and her homeland.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: F. Scott Fitzgerald nailed it when talking about the rich. "Let me tell you about the very rich," Fitzgerald said. "They're different from you and me." That holds true even in this recession. CNN's Richard Quest takes us on a tour of a little spot in London favored by the rich and famous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): St. John's Wood, the affluent London neighborhood made famous by the Beatles' popular Abbey Road crossing and the Lord's Cricket Ground. It borders a park fit for the queen. The area is known for attracting the richest of the rich. A walk through this part of town leads me to The Corner Shop, a simple store stocked with kitchen essentials, soft drinks, sweets, snacks.
For more than 20 years, Mohamed Ishaque has owned and operated The Corner Shop in the heart of St. John's Wood. Open from morning until night, it's part of the neighborhood.
AASIM ISHAQUE, CORNER SHOP OWNER'S SON: I think it's everything to him. I think this is dad's shop. I mean, coming from Pakistan, he didn't have nothing. I mean, when he told me he came here, literally nothing at all. And what he has achieved is quite amazing.
QUEST: Mohamed and his wife raised and educated children...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five pence, please. Thank you.
QUEST: ... each of them filling shifts behind the cash register, doing their part for the family business.
AASIM ISHAQUE: It was quite exciting when you're young. We used to come in to get a bag, and we used to get a choice of five items, any five items to take home.
QUEST: For the past decade, it's been sons Aasim and Amir working alongside their father.
AMIR ISHAQUE, CORNER SHOP OWNER'S SON: When I think of the shop, it's our livelihood. You know, this is an extension of our family.
MOHAMED ISHAQUE, CORNER SHOP OWNER: This is only the best part of my working here, always been my family. Otherwise, it's hard.
QUEST: Business was steady until the last few years. The Ishaques crunched the numbers and realized tough decisions had to be made if the shop were to stay open. The business could no longer support both sons.
AASIM ISHAQUE: There wasn't enough sales going on for us to survive. I'm married. I've got my own wife, got my own life. I mean, my dad had to make the awful decision of getting rid of one of us, which unfortunately was me.
AMIR ISHAQUE: Getting rid of your brother is a whole different thing. Very heart-wrenching at the time.
QUEST: Aasim has moved on and is now looking for work in securities. He still returns to The Corner Shop to fill odd shifts and volunteer on the weekends.
AASIM ISHAQUE: It's a family business at the end of the day, so money comes second.
QUEST: Despite the downturn, the Ishaques agree, The Corner Shop will still be open for business long after this recession has passed.
AASIM ISHAQUE: It definitely will stay in the family, no matter what, definitely. I don't think the shop's going anywhere.
QUEST: The Corner Shop, part of the past, open for business, here in the future.
Richard Quest, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the New York Mets ought to be glad that they're not playing at Bailout Ballpark this year. Their new digs named for a company that got a ton of TARP money. And we're not talking about the tarp that they haul out when it rains. Plus, the Steven Seagal-like ending to a pirate drama could mean a new beginning that's going to cost you a lot of money. Those pirates could be raiding your wallet, next. We're pushing these stories forward next hour.
The noise of clicking cameras did little to drown out the sobs of a young Japanese girl forced to make a heart-wrenching choice: her country or her parents. It's an immigration case that's generating international outrage. Our Kyung Lah explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Calderons are packing together as a family, but they're not moving to the same place or even the same country.
NORIKO CALDERON, PARENTS BEING DEPORTED: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAH: Until I'm an adult, I need my parents, says 13-year-old Noriko. But Japan is deporting her parents out of the country to the Philippines. Noriko will stay behind.
SARAH CALDERON, NORIKO'S MOTHER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAH: She's just a 13-year-old girl, says her mother. I can't believe they're doing this.
ARLAN CALDERON, NORIKO'S FATHER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAH: We won't be there when she needs us the most, says her father. She has to protect herself on her own. I'm so sorry about that.
Arlan and Sarah Calderon entered Japan on fake passports from the Philippines in the early 1990s. Noriko was born in Japan. Then, three years ago, immigration officers arrested Sarah for illegal residency.
Under an intense media spotlight, the family fought back against Japan's rigid immigration laws. Nationalist protesters say they broke the law and should leave, but the family argues Arlan Calderon is gainfully employed, and Noriko only speaks Japanese.
Japan's immigration bureau declined CNN's request for an on- camera interview, but released this statement: "After their illegal entry, they continued to work illegally. Their violation is an extremely malicious one which shakes the foundation of Japan's immigration control."
But when it came to 13-year-old Noriko, the government gave the girl a choice: her country or her parents.
N. CALDERON: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAH: Japan is my homeland, Noriko tells us, so she will stay in Japan raised by an aunt. Her parents counting down to deportation day marked in black.
More than 20,000 Japanese signed petitions to try to keep the family together. The Calderons' attorney says this case isn't about the law but what's right for a child.
SHOGO WATANABE, CALDERON ATTORNEY: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAH: Children should be protected when their parents are punished, says the family's attorney. It's a child right. There's no consideration for that at all. I do not think the government is being flexible.
(on camera): Immigration lawyers estimate some 500 families are in this same situation. The Calderon case, though, is now over. The parents are now leaving Japan, and immigration laws say they can't return for another five years. The parents have already asked for a special waiver to visit their daughter after a year, but it hasn't been granted yet. Until then, this family will be divided not just by miles, but the much greater distance of a country's laws.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Parts of the nation, especially the Southeast, facing a big threat today from intense storms. Our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, tracking them to keep you safe.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Violent deadly weather creating a mess across the Southeast today. Two deaths are now being reported from falling trees. One victim, a teen killed in east Tennessee when a tree fell on his home. The second killed when a falling tree hit a car in Atlanta.
Gusting winds are knocking down trees across the region, many doing a number on power lines. More than 200,000 people are without power right now in the metro Atlanta area. And another round of intense storms on the horizon. I want to bring back our severe weather expert, Chad Myers. He's in the CNN weather center here, working it all for us -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Kyra, it could redevelop again today behind this system, because the sunshine is about to come out, behind where all of this weather was earlier today. As the winds blew through Atlanta, they were actually well behind the line of weather here that rolled through Atlanta yesterday, and then the storms that are now well down into Florida.
It really, if you look at a weather map, it makes no sense why these winds were so strong. Atlanta literally just got in the way of 50- and 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts. Atlanta has a lot of old heavy trees. Half of them have termites, because we have that down here in the South, and a lot of these trees began to fall down today.
But what you will notice on the very last screen, that was a new tornado watch for Tennessee and also parts of Alabama. This will be our next round that may, in fact, get through Atlanta later on this afternoon. I'm going to bring in our Jacqui Jeras. She is in DeKalb County, very close to here, where we are here in Atlanta, probably just a few miles away. And you're seeing an awful lot of damage. I can see it all behind you. And those are not old trees. Some of those are real live young trees.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. And they're huge, Chad. You know, you normally wouldn't expect to have winds around 55 miles per hour cause damage like this, but it's really widespread. There are hundreds of trees down, hundreds of thousands of people who are without power, and scenes like this are just common.
You can see how this huge tree, it's actually like a twin tree that fell down on these power poles, and everybody on this street is without power. And this is one of about three trees crossing just this one road in the Oak Grove neighborhood. And if you take a look at the very end of this, look how the tree's uprooted. And so, you know, that's a real telling sign of all the rain that we've had in the last couple weeks. The ground is so saturated that all it took were those winds and the 55-plus mile-per-hour range to take this whole tree down.
So, a very serious situation. Authorities are closing off roads. They're not letting everybody in and out of these neighborhoods until they can get in and assess all the situations, but this is pretty widespread in this area across DeKalb County. Also reports of some major home damage north of here into Cherokee County. So, this was a very short-lived storm, very unusual and very, very difficult, as you know, Chad, to predict -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui, Chad, thank you so much.
All right, we're topping off with issue number one now, at the top of the White House agenda. We're just getting word that President Obama plans a major speech on the economy and the steps being taken to fix it. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. Suzanne, what can we expect tomorrow?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, in speaking with White House aides, they say there's not going to be any kind of new policy initiatives that he's going to announce, but what he is going to do is to check in with the American people and say, this is what's working, this is the kind of progress that we've made since the economic stimulus package has kicked in with the recession, here's how we're doing with jobs, here's how we're doing with construction projects. Those kind of things.
He is also going to warn Americans that there is a lot of hard work that still needs to be done, that this is not far from over, and so that is really going to be the message. He is really going to try to outline, if you will, where we are in all of this, because a lot of people as you know, very anxious, looking at where their taxpayer dollars are going, what's actually been accomplished, who's getting jobs. Those are the kind of specifics that we're told he's going to discuss tomorrow -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now, just a couple weeks ago, Suzanne, our Jim Acosta was working this story on Cuba, not knowing how long the issue of restrictions was going to take place to loosen up. Now are we hearing that the Obama administration has decided to loosen up those restrictions on traveling to Cuba?
MALVEAUX: Yes, they have, as a matter of fact. And it's going to become official today. We're going to hear that from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, as well as another official. We're not going to hear it from Obama, necessarily, today. But a couple things that they're highlighting here. They are going to list some of those restrictions, travel as well as gift restrictions. This is for Cuban Americans, Cuban Americans only, to try to help out their family members in Cuba.
This is part of a campaign pledge that he is making good on, essentially. It does not lift the trade embargo between the United States and Cuba. This is really a chance to try to improve relations between the two countries, but certainly not beyond that. So, they want to kind of take, you know, warn people it's not as significant as perhaps you would think.
But all of this, Kyra, the timing of this, is right before the Summit of the Americas. That's when the president this week is going to go to Trinidad. So, this is one of those things that he wanted to put out there before he goes to that conference -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.
